First, I have more questions than answers about my subject! When attempting to track down an historic site that is long since gone, it is hard enough to get a mental picture of the location and site. When there are several places with the same name it’s double or triple trouble to figure out accurate information. Nonetheless, in pioneer times, mills were very important to the livelihood of the people and an economic benefit to the local communities. In Frances Waller Skeen’s writings she noted that in 1857 mills were taxed in Union County. In 1922, there were 22 corn mills and one flour mill operating in Union County ( There were apparently three Hansard Mill sites).

To locate the William C. Hansard Mill, go past Hansard Chapel Church and turn right on England Road. Usually the mill was a short walk from the house, so that a person could tend the mill. Dr. Sam Hansard and Jack Hansard remember the millstones laying in the grass. There was no mill structure remaining, but we believe the raceway can still be seen. Some years back Jack Hansard and Kelmar Reynolds facilitated the donation of these millstones by Mrs. England, who owned the property, to the Roy Acuff Union County Museum and Library. These stones are on either side of the walkway into the Museum. The millstone, which was made into a coffee table and can be seen inside the Roy Acuff Museum and Library, is from the Andrew Corbett Hall mill on Hall Gap Road. Andrew Corbett Hall and his brother Benjamin “Barnaby” Hall both married daughters of William Hansard and both brothers were millers. Andrew operated a flour mill and his brother operated a corn mill.

To get to the homeplace, one would have to cross the ridge behind Larry Lay’s house and go down to the vicinity of what is now Hansard Road. The picture of the old homeplace was taken in the 1970s when Frawley Hansard was showing Dr. Sam Hansard around. Dr. Sam in his notes, says, “ The ridge between the home place and the bridge is pretty steep, probably back and forth travel was around the ridge and that would have been closer to 4,000 - 5,000 ft. Not an easy walk. There are two possibilities: The original William Hansard home could have been nearer the mill, or the picture could be the home place of Archibald G. Hansard, and not that of William.. I have assumed it was the home of William and passed to his son Archibald G., but the memory of local residents–even descendants–about something 100 years before is not reliable. The deeds and other records seem to indicate various persons operated the mill. For example, John Henderson, who married Susan Elisabeth Hansard, submitted in his Civil War pension application that he was “miller” and resided in the area of Hansard’s Mill in Union County. According to descendant, Rollin Golden who lives in California, the old Hansard homeplace was on the left side of what is now Hansard Road and that Archibald’s house was nearby on the right side of Hansard Road.

Then the 1815 deed made by Clayton Davis to LeRoy Payton and William Hansard includes a mill seat that appears to have been behind Hansard Chapel Methodist Church:
. . . located in the County of Knox in the Raccoon Valley being part of the survey which Davis now lives on including a mill seat .
Today, there appears to have been a mill site just behind Hansard Church. Mae Hansard Armstrong, a descendant remembers hearing about a mill being there. One thing we need to remember is–mills, houses, barns and other buildings were moved from time to time to better suit the needs of the person.

The 1857 deed from William C. Hansard to Edward H. Parham references “ a tract on Bull Run adjoining the land of J. S. Majors “formally [marked] on a stump near the mill.”

The 1897 deed from N. D. Kitts to A. S. Sulffridge provides this reference:

Beginning on a Hickory on the Sulphur Spring Branch on the line of the Ballou tract and now C. Norris and running an Eastwardly direction with a marked line to a Cucumber [tree] on the bank of Big Road, thence with the Big Road to the line known as the Mill Tract, thence with the said line to the old Union County line, thence with the said County line to the Sulphur Spring Branch there with the Sulphur Spring Branch as it meanders to the beginning.

An 1899 deed between William A. Scalf and his wife and Alfred Suffredge makes this reference to a mill:
.
Situate in District No. 6 of Union County, Tennessee, bounded as follows: Beginning on a stake in the old Union and Knox County line, thence South course with the cross fence to a stone, thence Easterly line straight to a hickory tree on the bank of the Big Road, thence with said road back to Old Mill Tract, thence with the said mill tract back to the old Union County line, thence with said line to the beginning containing 25 acres more or less.

On page 203 of Dr. Sam Hansard’s Descendants of John Hansard of Amherst County, Virginia 1766 - 1978, he states:

Doctor Lewis “Doc” Hansard operated for years the Hansard Mill in Raccoon Valley which descended to him from his father John. There for a standard toll of one gallon per bushel of grain, corn was ground into meal using water power from a small spring-fed stream nearby. Although the mill is no longer operative, the building and huge millstones remain. The stream is identified on current maps as Hansard Mill Branch. [There were no descendants of Lewis Hansard.]

This mill would be on Bull Run Creek very near where Andersonville Pike intersects with Raccoon Valley Road.

In addition to the issues that I have previously raised and after completing A History of Hansard Chapel Methodist Church in 2009, I was given a copy of an 1811 deed for 640 acres deeded by Pleasant M. Miller to William C. Hansard. I have a picture copy of a Pleasant Miller Mill that was still standing in 1935. Could this be one of the Hansard mills? A note says it was later operated by Jim Miller. To add more to the mystery–There were two people by the name of Pleasant Miller–Pleasant M. Miller and Pleasant Miller, son of Martin Miller and husband of Winnie Reynolds Miller. I’m always open to clarification and better documentation. I would be glad to hear from anyone who can help. I am grateful to Jim Tolliver, Jack Hansard, Dr. Sam Hansard, Sue Lewis, and Mae Hansard Armstrong, who are always willing to share recollections with me. Sadly, Norma Sue Lewis and Mae Armstrong have died--maybe others.

Picture caption:

William C. Hansard Homeplace

Millpond at one of the Hansard mills–second from left is Witt Hansard, son of Abner, grandson of Archibald “Archie” and great grandson of William–with his sons.